BOOK REVIEW: We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

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Years ago, my mom was in a reading rut and asked me for some book suggestions -- like me, she was a voracious reader. It was rare for my mom to find herself in a lull with reading, so I happily supplied a list of 10 books or so and she started in on it. 

After the first three books on the list, my mom came to me and said that she appreciated the list, but she'd no longer be reading from it and would not take reading suggestions from me again.

Her reason? Most of what I like to read is "depressing and sad", according to my mom. That has not changed over the years. 

Case in point: We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman.

This novel is devastating but beautiful.

We All Want Impossible Things is about love, loss, and grief, as well as motherhood and friendship. It really highlights that we are all human and reminded me a lot of something one of my high school English teachers said (she was quoting the author, Wally Lamb, I believe): "The best fiction is often more true than real life." This book was so true to my experience of grief and loss that it definitely felt more true than real life! I've had a lot of heart break over the last few years, and this novel helped to mend some of it.

This book made me cry a lot, but despite being so sad, it also made me laugh quite a bit!

We All Want Impossible Things is about a woman whose best friend is in hospice and how she navigates that alongside being a single mom to a teen daughter and a college aged daughter, while still being in love with (and also not in love with at the same time) her ex-husband, and while trying to figure out her own life.

If you enjoy the work of Anne Lamott, particularly the novel Rosie, you'll like this one. It's equal parts sad and funny. My mom would still would have found it depressing.

I found We All Want Impossible Things to be deeply satisfying. It is filled with all the ups and downs of relationships in many areas of our lives, includes good food, cozy living rooms, sex without being gratuitous, awe and wonder at the world around us, and so much more. I will definitely read this one again!

Buy it on Bookshop.org HERE.

Buy it on Amazon HERE.

BOOK REVIEW: No Land to Light on by Yara Zgheib

Links are affiliate in nature and may result in a small commission for me if you purchase through them. Thank you in advance!

No Land to Light on by Yara Zgheib is by far one of the best books I've read in a very long time (in addition to Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan).

This book combines so many emotions: hope, sadness, worry, outrage, love, tenderness, and more!

No Land to Light On features shifting points of view between the two main characters with news editorials sprinkled throughout. The book is the story of a Syrian refugee who has become a legal US resident who falls in love with a Syrian woman who immigrated to the United States in order to attend college at Harvard. They marry and eventually find that she is pregnant. 

The young couple endures the ups and downs of navigating growing love and the prospect of becoming parents while also working through different experiences and different levels of comfort within the United States -- she is far more comfortable and wholeheartedly embraces her new status as an American. he clings to his Syrian roots while feeling the pull of a new way of life. 

Sama left behind bitterness and ran towards opportunity. Hadi left behind parents, friendships, and a love of the land and his father's orchards. He also left fear and violence as he moved towards the promise of freedom and a chance to start over in America, but clouded with fear of the unknown.

Upon the death of his father, Hadi returns to his homeland for the funeral. Little do they know that his attempted return to his legal home in the United States will coincide with a travel ban that includes Syrians -- even if they are legal residents of the United States. 

As Sama awaits his return at the arrivals section of the airport, amid the chaos of protestors, she goes into premature labor and starts her own harrowing journey. 

No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib, published by Simon & Schuster, is beautifully written, despite the sometimes difficult topics. 

Up next, expect a review of the classic book Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Purchase No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib:

• At Amazon HERE
• At Bookshop HERE

January and February 2023 Reading Roundup

So far, in January and February of 2023, I've read far more than in the same time period the prior few years! 

In part, I've been making a conscious choice to sit down with a book instead of mindlessly scrolling or watching TV. I've also just been far less stressed than in the last few years, so it's been more natural to pick up a book without having to make a conscious effort. 

Links within the body of this post are affiliate links for Bookshop.org. Links at the end of the post are from Amazon.com. Either way, these may result in a small commission for me if you make purchases through these links. Thank you in advance!

In January, I finished:

• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (American fiction)
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (non-fiction; memoir; autobiography; poetry)

In February, I finished:

• Cold by Mariko Tamaki (young adult fiction; murder mystery)
• The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson (Contemporary British fiction; chick lit; Rom-Com; lighthearted and sweet)
• Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan (Contemporary American fiction; psychological thriller; family and friend relationships; near future climate crisis)

As of this writing -- the second to last day of February -- I am currently working my way through:

• No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib (Contemporary fiction; dramatic and tense but EXCELLENT)
• The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Contemporary Swedish fiction; humorous)
• Animal Farm by George Orwell (Fiction; satire)

I have several other books in progress from months past, but these three are at the top of my list.

So far, the best book I've read in 2023 is Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan. Whoa! This book is tense, but I could not put it down! The book takes place in the near future amid a growing climate crisis that is making life nearly unbearable in what is an otherwise very typical suburban United States neighborhood. As the story unfolds, we see relationships  shift between a group of neighbors and their children. The kids are growing up and shifting allegiances. The parents are mostly trying to hold their lives and families together with varying degrees of success. Ultimately, everything unravels when one of the kids disappears into a sink hole. Cracks in all of the relationships -- family units, friends, and so on -- begin to form and unthinkable acts of violence occur under the cover of darkness. Although this was a devastating story, it was also exceptionally written and I highly recommend it.

What has been your best read so far in 2023?

2022 Reading Roundup and Looking Forward, Across 2023

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I did a terrible job at blogging in 2021 and 2022, didn't I? I posted three times in 2021 and not at all in 2022! Those two years were whirlwinds, and not just because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Throughout a large portion of that time span, I was temporary guardian to one of my tutoring students and foster mom to his brother. I won't be going into the details other than to say that I was exceptionally busy and there were some extreme ups and downs.

Both boys have since been reunified with their mom and I'm getting back into the swing of life.

I'm looking forward to finishing some books that I have had in progress for a while and to move on to new (to me) books!

As we cross from 2022 into 2023, I decided to set up a new spread in my reading journal -- I'm working on a video about the process, but for the time being, you'll have to settle for this blog post.

After some decorative stamping, stickering, and gluing down of vintage Richard Scarry bookish illustrations, I wrote out all of the books I had started in 2022 but did not finish -- though I realized I missed a book and wrote it in afterwards. As you can see from this photo, I also color coded the books on the left edge of the pages. The color code prioritizes the books in the order I would like to read them and follows rainbow order with pink substituting for purple (because that's what was in the pencil set I used).

RED -- FIRST PRIORITY:

• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• We are Called to be a Movement by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
• The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
• Inciting Joy by Ross Gay
• Fermenting by Asa Simonsson
• Local Dirt by Andrea Bemis
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

ORANGE -- SECOND PRIORITY:

• Conscious Creativity by Philippa Stanton
• Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty
• The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window by Jonas Jonasson

YELLOW -- THIRD PRIORITY:

• Looking at Mindfulness by Christophe Andre
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

GREEN -- FOURTH PRIORITY:

• There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather by Linda Akeson McGurk
• Wild Embers by Nikita Gill

BLUE -- FIFTH PRIORITY:

• An Alter in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor
• Hawk of the Mind by Yang Mu
• The Armillary Sphere by Ann Hudson

PINK -- LAST PRIORITY:

• God and Guns in America by Michael W. Austin
• Life Among the Terranauts by Caitlin Horrocks
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The order in which I would like to finish these was a combination of things I need to finish for my tutoring practice, items due back at the library soon, items already returned to the library that I would like to eventually finish, books I'd like to finish but am not feeling a huge pull to do so immediately, and a few other less specific criteria.

And, of course, I already have started a new book for 2023:

• A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe

Of the books on my list which have you read? Which do you want to read? When I finish this list, what should I read next?